“Man is something that shall be overcome.Man is a rope,tied between beast and overman - a rope over an abyss.What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.”-- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra
--Nothing scientific can be racist and nothing racist can be scientific.
(c)2000-2017 CM PRESS.ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

According to the Daily Pilot, the folks over by the misnamed Santa Ana Country Club want a sit down with Supervisor John Moorlach to try to convince him to stop blocking their application to become part of Newport Beach. LINK

Now, why would these folks not want to be part of Costa Mesa--a city that is full of Latino gangs, slums, a high violent crime rate, lower than they should be home values, failing schools, 60 acres of industrial buildings on our Westside Bluffs, illegal aliens and magnet charities drawing even more illegal aliens here and then making them nice and comfortable so they'll bring their whole villages here?

Why would these folks not want to be part of a city with a dumbed-down City Council that knows or should know about all the problems in the preceding paragraph but still holds City Council meetings every two weeks where these idiots tell us their highest priority is filling potholes?

Of course, these folks who want to be part of Newport Beach, if they follow the precedent set by their neighbors who have already escaped the clutches of Costa Mesa's downward mobile policies, will tell Supervisor Moorlach, that the reason they want to go to Newport is because that city will fight hard to keep John Wayne Airport from growing. They won't anger him (he lives in Costa Mesa) by telling him the real reasons as I outlined above.

Look folks, smart people with a choice don't want to be stuck in a slum with a City Council that has no backbone to make the necessary changes to make things better for the middle class citizens of the city.

If Costa Mesa's City Council would start doing what it should be doing, we wouldn't see whole neighborhoods wanting no part of this city and we wouldn't have to fight to keep neighborhoods in Costa Mesa against their will.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

IF YOU DON'T WANT IT IN NEWPORT, PUT IT IN COSTA MESA--THE TOWN DUMP OF NEWPORT BEACH!

As the CM PRESS has been saying for years, the reason that Newport Beach doesn't have a bad part of town is because Costa Mesa is the bad part of town for Newport.

That's part of the reason why we continue to have 60 acres of polluting industrial buildings on our view bluffs and why we have rotting slums full of illegal aliens.

Now there's a controversy in Newport about a proposed site for sports fields in that city.

Here's a post from the Daily Pilot's blog put up by a Newporter that we found interesting:

Robin Daily wrote on Mar 24, 2008 12:11 PM:

" Do what the residents want and build a passive park [in Newport Beach] or leave the land alone. The AYSO is now using Costa Mesa soccer venues and no where did I read that this is a problem. There is no "dire need" for sports fields in Newport Beach because there are ample facilities in Costa Mesa. For once will the City Council stop it with all the development and impact it makes on peoples lives. I can assure you that if Steve Rosansky's view or ocean breeze was messed with the article would have a different ending. "

Here's the LINK to the Daily Pilot article about this park.# # #Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

You've probably read in the Daily Pilot that the Gap has now closed at Triangle Square. That's no surprise to anyone who knows a little about retail real estate.

Look, this isn't brain surgery. Triangle Square is designed wrong. It was functionally obsolete as a shopping center when it was still in the concept stage. It shouldn't have been built. Not the way it was built.

Here's what probably went on in the discussions back then. The developer tried to maximize the leasable square footage and his profits by putting the parking underground. His proforma projections that he took to the bank probably showed maximum rents and a very low vacancy factor (they always do).

The developer probably also had a handful of letters of interest from national and regional credit tenants and these letters of interest became part of the developer's pitch to the bank. The way it works in retail real estate is that many of these national and regional credit tenants will take a flyer on every new center that opens so long as certain minimum demographic figures support it and if certain other national credit tenants have also sent in letters of interest.

That's why when new centers first open they often look successful. However, the national and regional credit tenants always have performance clauses in their leases that let them bail out if their sales projections aren't reached by a certain time or if sales fall below certain levels or if certain other tenants go dark. That's why you'll see some centers that looked successful when they first opened (such as Triangle Square), suddenly starting to look less so as years go on.

On paper, and before it was built, Triangle Square probably looked like a winner. Paper isn't reality, folks. The problem is that in our climate and with our open space life style, it was a lousy idea. People have too many other choices in shopping and they prefer not to park in a damp and dreary cavern below a shopping center if they can help it. The psychology is all wrong. Also, it should have been clear that you couldn't get the right tenant mix at Triangle Square that would allow all merchants to prosper.

And, speaking of psychology, a slight digression might be instructive. There is a field where psychology and engineering/designing/development come together, called "human factors engineering." This is a field that started because engineers and others often design very efficient things including machines, but don't always factor in the human element.

Take a car, for example. To get the weight down, you, Mr. Engineer, may have designed the seats to be too hard. Or, you may have designed the radio knobs that are out of reach of the average human. Or you may have chosen interior colors that are psychologically upsetting, or put in gauges that are the wrong shape or color. Or, maybe, the materials you wanted for the interior you designed just smell wrong. To avoid costly mistakes, major automobile manufacturers usually have human factors engineers as part of their design teams. Same with airplane manufacturers. Your machine may be very efficient, but if people don't like it, you'll go broke.

Here's another example and another digression. Years ago, an old style chain of coffee shops in New York had a problem. Some customers would come in and sit at the counter for hours on end nursing a cup of coffee and thus keeping other paying customers from taking their seats. A human factors engineer was called in and he designed seats that were perfectly comfortable...for about ten minutes. Problem solved.

A team of competent uninvolved retail retail estate professionals would have served the function of human factors engineers for Triangle Square and would probably have advised the developer and the City that such a structure at that location might work as a government building or a college or for some similar use where people "had" to go. They would have told the developer and the City that it wouldn't work as a shopping center unless some changes were made.

And, today, even those who don't know much about retail real estate realize that Triangle Square is not working, despite all the happy face talk we've heard over the years from every new leasing team that takes over from the past failing leasing team.

Again, Triangle Square is designed wrong and is functionally obsolete. And, part of the problem is the stupid 55 Freeway causing major traffic problems right at its doorstep. You can't design a building without taking into account what's around that building. You have to look over the fence to see what's there and you have to realize your lot isn't in a vacuum.

How could Triangle Square be made to work and be an asset?

There are two alternatives that I've written about before:

1. The 55 could be put in a covered trench down to about 15th Street and the area above and near Triangle Square would become a pedestrian friendly open air shopping area with Triangle Square as the hub--think downtown Huntington Beach or the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. To be successful, Triangle Square would have to be opened up so that it became part of the outside.

2. Triangle Square could become a new City Hall or other government building or a college.

That's it. Those are the only two options besides tearing the place down that I see as viable.

But, here's the scary thing about the Triangle Square experience. We still have incompetents on the City Council making similar decisions for our city. In fact, we have an election every two years where we elect more incompetents who, for the most part, don't know much about City planning and who don't seem to be able to discern between good ideas and bad ones.

Today, we have incompetents on the City Council screwing up the Westside because they seem to bow to every little puff of smoke blown up their shorts by out of town industrialists who want to keep the Westside as slum central so they can continue to live the high life in Newport Beach upwind of the pollution that is going into the lungs of our kids from their massive industrial area on the Westside Bluffs.

And, what do our latter day incompetents tell us? "Oh, we're going to fix potholes and plant flowers in front of slums to fix the Westside." And, they mumble that they sure don't like eminent domain (having Councilmembers say this makes the out of town industrialist millionaires very happy), even though most of them don't understand that when properly used, eminent domain is a tool that can work to break the stranglehold of out of town money interests that won't let the Westside bloom.

Meanwhile, our present incompetents let big developers put in upscale condos and apartments all around South Coast Plaza without any state required low income units. What that does is force the city to keep rotting, overcrowded slums in our middle class neighborhoods to fulfill state mandated low income housing requirements.

Some of these incompetents have a childish view of what a free market economy really requires and they promote a laissez-faire system as though they're reading a class paper in their sixth grade class.

They fail to realize that the free market can't work unless everyone starts at the same time or until the playing field is truly leveled. In Costa Mesa, the out of town industrialists have had their 60 acres of industrial buildings on our view Westside Bluffs for many years and the City and other government entities including taxing entities have been protecting them.

So, our City Council put in a residential overlay on the Westside Bluffs. Big deal. Without doing more, things are not going to happen fast enough to turn things around, plus, and speaking of looking over the fence, Newport Beach is moving forward on the other side of those Bluffs to take all of Banning Ranch. And, they'll succeed. Why? Because Costa Mesa's half-assed politicians haven't done the right things over the years to make Costa Mesa desirable.

It's all connected, folks. If Costa Mesa were made more upscale instead of remaining an illegal alien sanctuary, many good things would start happening. To make it more upscale requires that we build upscale homes on land that is rare and desirable--such as view lots on the Westside Bluffs. And, some of our Westside Bluffs land is as desirable for homes as similar bluffs in Newport Beach where homes regularly sell for many millions of dollars.

Here's another example of what our half-assed politicians have done: They got rid of the job center but failed to put in a proper city ordinance to prevent day workers from congregating in parking lots and on street corners. Again, this isn't brain surgery. All these half-assed incompetents have to do is copy the ordinance recently enacted by the City of Orange.# # #Those are our opinions about our half-assed politicians. Thanks for reading them.

Only Mayor Pro TemMansoor had the good sense to vote against this waste of money. We had expected Foley and Dixon to vote to squander your money, but we expected more from Bever and Leece.

And, speaking of Leece, one prominent local citizen approached us the other day and said it seems to this citizen that Ms. Leece still thinks she's on the School Board because all she ever seems to talk about are school matters and she always seems to be schmoozing with Foley in some sort of permanent PTA Mom's club.

The CM PRESS took a good look at one of the recreation trucks some time ago. They look like roach coaches without the kitchen equipment. The one we saw carried a bunch of broken sports equipment and was staffed by two disinterested city employees.

These trucks travel into different neighborhoods of Costa Mesa and set up for the day. Now, if Costa Mesa were Manhattan where it's all buildings with few parks or green areas, a case could be made that these trucks might be worth the money.

But, folks, Costa Mesa is not Manhattan. Some sort of park is within easy reach of all citizens. And, if there are neighborhoods that need more parks--such as the slum areas--the City should buy up some of the slum buildings, tear them down and put in pocket parks. What is this, friggin' brain surgery?

That's right, this $ 81,000 would have been better spent as part of a down payment on buying and tearing down a slum building in the Shalimar slum, the Mission-Mendoza slum, the Fillmore-Coolidge slum or the slums around Rea School. Just remove a building and put in a pocket park.

Oh, and another thing, these trucks are mostly for school age children. The School District and the City already have recreation activities on all school campuses in Costa Mesa after school!# # #Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Monday, March 17, 2008

The former president of Mexico was named Vicente Fox. Now, isn't "Fox" the English translation of "Zorro"? So why wasn't he called President Zorro?

And, if you visit Ireland, you'll find a lot of people named Fox around Dublin and Tipperary, but if you go to Mexico you won't find too many with that name there.

Never mind. I have weightier things to straighten out concerning Mexico and Zorro.

You've probably seen the Zorro movies or TV show where Zorro was a Spanish nobleman who ran around the place carving a "Z" on the bad guys' shirts. Nice story. But you might find the real story even more interesting.

The real Zorro was an Irish soldier of fortune named William Lamport, who was born in 1615 on the Emerald Isle.

Lamport left Ireland and found remunerative work for a time as a privateer--that means he was a pirate with a license from one government that allowed him to attack another nation's ships. In this case, Lamport attacked English merchantmen. It's that Irish/English thing.

In 1643, Lamport enlisted in one of the three Irish regiments in Spanish service (The O’Neill, O’Donnell and Fitzgerald Regiments) to fight against the French forces in Spanish Flanders. He was eventually commended for bravery and entered Spanish Royal service.

Along the way, Lamport--an ever adaptable sort--Latinized his name to "GuillenLombardo" and ended up in the Spanish colony of Mexico.

Once in Mexico, William/Guillen lived among the poor Indians and studied their religion. For this, he came to the notice of the Spanish Inquisition, which was helping the King of Spain in his attempt to destroy Mexico as it was, and remake it into something of a new world version of Catholic Spain.

William/Guillen soon became the leader of a rebel Mexican independence movement and fought against the Spaniards.

When not fighting the Spaniards, and trying to free Mexico from Spanish rule, William/Guillen was busy having romantic trysts with Spanish noblewomen.

After a time, he became engaged to Antonia Turcious, a member of the nobility. However, before he could marry her, he was arrested by the Inquisition and accused of conspiracy against Spain.

He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but, and it gets a bit foggy here, he was eventually back on the streets where he then began a harassment campaign against the Spanish by sneaking around at night and painting the walls of Mexico City with his name and anti-Spanish graffiti.

Not exactly the stuff of a "Z" made with a sword, but close enough to be reworked for the Zorro story.

William/Guillen was arrested again in 1652 when found in a compromising situation with the wife of the Spanish Viceroy of Mexico, Marquis Lope DiezdeCaderyta.

He was sentenced to 7 years imprisonment and was then turned over to the Inquisition to be burnt at the stake as a heretic (it was because of that native Indian religion that he had been toying with, not the many women).

In 1659 he was tied to the stake in Mexico City, but before the flames reached him, he undid his ropes and strangled himself.

When Cincode Mayo rolls around next year, be sure to raise a glass of Guinness Stout cervaza to that fine Latino gentleman from Eire–Zorro.

And, on St. Patrick’s Day when you’re at some suitable establishment with an Irish flair--say SkoshMonahans, just to name one local possibility--be sure to raise a glass of Corona beer--from Mexico--in memory of Zorro.

Now, about that name "Skosh;" that’s not Gaelic or even Spanish, amigos. It’s Japanese. So what’s a...never mind.

Oh, okay. When you're drinking your glass of Sake at an Irish bar, with a Japanese word in its name, in honor of St. Patricks day, give a thought to that Irish gentleman, Zorro.

Somehow in a strange universe--such as the one we live in-- this all makes sense.

As Zorro himself might have said: "BeannachtamnaFeile Padraig," or, in English, Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Friday, March 14, 2008

There's a good article in the Daily Pilot about the Westside that's worth reading. LINK.

Many of us have been working for years to prime the pump that will allow a large part of the Westside to become a real artists colony. Maybe it's starting to happen. We hope so.

There have always been artists on the Westside. Some of the first improvers are working artists. Even the mayor has an arts background.

Maybe now the critical mass of artists moving to the area is reaching the point where a synergy will be created that will make things change even faster.

As one who was acting in New York in and around Greenwich Village, the East Village and SoHo (which is mentioned in the DP article) before SoHo was known as SoHo, I've long felt that the Westside has the natural potential to become a real artists colony that will be a benefit to those living there and in all other parts of Costa Mesa as well.

Is there anything missing on the Westside that might nudge things forward even more?

Well, one thing that might help would be an arts oriented college.

And specifically an urban arts oriented college; a college with the streets of the Westside as its campus. A college with classes in industrial buildings and storefronts.

Nothing can pump youthful energy into an area faster than a college.

Maybe the folks at UCI or even OCC could be talked into renting or buying space on the Westside or in Triangle Square for some satellite classes.

Put enough students in the area, and stores and cafes catering to their needs will soon follow and with them the area will start blossoming.# # #Those are our thoughts. Thanks for reading them.

Here's some more nonsense from this character Geoff West who likes the Westside just the way it is. Of course, he lives on the very far Eastside. His comments are from the Return to Reason Daily Pilot. LINK

Did I mention that West lives way, way over on the Eastside almost in Newport Beach? Probably shops at Gelson's.

I've put my comments in red following his silly and oft repeated drivel.

Geoff West wrote on Mar 12, 2008 8:11 PM:

" Do you see the common thread here? The fellow in question won't be happy until every brown face is expelled from Costa Mesa and his methodical campaign to make them uncomfortable is working now that he has a majority on the city council that supports his anti-Latino plans. The Latinos of our city have not named me as their spokesperson, but someone needs to shine the light on this blatant display of overt racism. (Cont.) "

I RESPOND:Nope. I've never written or said anything about expelling "every brown face." I have written and said that we need to stop being an illegal alien sanctuary city if we want our schools to improve, our home values to increase, our neighborhoods to be safer and our quality of life to be better. I stand by that.

Oh, and the Latinos haven't named Geoff West as their spokesperson? Give them an A+ for that.

" Some of my friends work in industrial jobs on the Westside in an area where this fellow wants to displace those successful businesses and replace them with high-end homes.

I RESPOND: High end homes on view bluffs? Homes full of tax paying upwardly mobile citizens who will become part of our city and who will support upscale merchants and help turn a downward spiral into an upward one? Who would ever think of something like that? How evil!

Why, we know the best uses for view property--uses that help a city--are industrial buildings pushing their pollution downwind over the homes and schools of the city. Right? Isn't that what we see on the bluffs in Corona del Mar, Newport Coast, and other coastal cities? Oh, it isn't? You mean most enlightened cities actually use their best land for the best uses?

Isn't it interesting that a major Westside Bluffs industrial property owner, who lives in Newport Beach (of course), is also a member of Return to Reason with Geoff West.

Some of my Latino friends have Anglo spouses, something that must drive the fellow in question nuts because he's written extensively about the evils of "blending" of races as he bemoans the disappearance of the Aryan race. (Cont.) "

I RESPOND: "Aryan," eh? Hmmm. Actually, I hardly ever use the word. It has too many negative connotations, and if one uses it, a lot of time has to be given to explain what it means. It's just easier to say European-Americans or whites.

But, Grasshopper, I am ever a patient teacher. So, here's a quick and oversimplified lesson on the word. First, in a modern and loose sense it just means Europeans. In a more ancient sense it was what the European tribes were called who crossed into India thousands of years ago. Interestingly, the present nation of "Iran" was along the path to India. "Iran" means land of the Aryans. Once again, docendodiscimus.

And, the disappearance of white folks is a problem. We've become too materialistic, too self-absorbed and too self-indulgent. Maybe we've also become too impotent and too lacking in vigor and the life force itself. And in some cases we've become full of self-loathing and are as dispirited as the American Indians were in the 19th Century. We're afraid to be who we are and constantly apologize for our very existence.

As a result, our birth rate is below replacement levels. That's why Germany and Russia and now the Canadian Province of Quebec are offering money and tax incentives to their people to have more children. People in those countries have decided that dying off is not such a great thing.

In fact, I often write about this in my national essays.--------------------------

Geoff West wrote on Mar 12, 2008 8:10 PM:

" Others, because of their position low on the economic ladder, use the services of some of the charities on the Westside of town - those this fellow has targeted for expulsion because he feels they are magnets for undesirables.

I RESPOND: Most of those low on the economic ladder in Costa Mesa are illegal aliens. They're not even supposed to be in this country.

Some of West's fellow Return to Reason anti-Improvers make their livings off the backs of these illegal aliens. Some of them run charities whose own records show that in some cases up to 99% of their clients are Latinos, and common sense tells us that most are probably illegal aliens since the charities don't check for legal status.

If you are an illegal alien in Costa Mesa you can live the good life on very little money by using the charity services that are too concentrated on the Westside. You can get free bags of groceries, free clothes, free medical and dental care, free money to help pay your rent, free money to help pay your utilities and more. Your kids will also get a free breakfast and lunch at school. If you're a citizen and contributing member of society, however, you'll have to pay through the nose for breakfast and lunch for your kids. "Free" is a magnet, folks. It draws people to it.

And, by "free" I mean just to the illegal aliens. You and I are paying for their "free."

Look folks, take a look at what you're paying for your medical and dental insurance and for your groceries. Wouldn't you have more money to spend on new cars if you didn't have to spend all that money?

Maybe you should live the good life of an illegal alien in Costa Mesa. Maybe you should stop being a responsible citizen. Perhaps, you should get over that old fashioned American value of not wanting to use charities. Get on the Costa Mesa gravy train and act like an illegal alien.

And, let me be very clear about this. No reasonable person is opposed to charities that help people who are truly down on their luck. What I'm talking about here are charities that seem to exist to give big salaries and life time employment to their bosses and which pad their rolls with illegal aliens who are often using them as a life style choice.

of my Latino friends like to attend the Orange Coast College Swap Meet, a venue for social interaction and low-end commerce - that very same swap meet the fellow in question unsuccessfully attempted to have shut down a couple years ago because it was attracting more undesirables from Santa Ana. (Cont.)

I RESPOND: Santa Ana found that its own swap meet was hurting local merchants so it closed it down. Then, those sellers and customers simply moved their action to the OCCSwap Meet. Many of the people who live near the OCCSwap Meet remember when it was a true swap meet where you could find bargains from people's attics and garages. That's not what it is anymore.Now, it's become a Third World Bazaar with professional merchants selling to customers on the two best sales days of the week without having to go through the bother of renting a store, paying staff, paying all the fees and having the city come through and inspect for safety, etc.

It also causes traffic and road wear that the citizens of Costa Mesa must bear.

" Hola, Anonymous "Ron", where have you been - hibernating? Are you new to Costa Mesa? You're correct, I, too, know many strong, resilient Latinos in our city - hardworking folks doing their best to make a good life for their families. Some of them live in apartments in our town - described by the subject of my commentary as "barracks-style" apartments - which the fellow in question has targeted for demolition, perhaps by eminent domain. (Cont.) "

I RESPOND:Yup, we have too many barracks style apartments. Check the number of police calls to them for a clue about why we need to thin them out. They are functionally obsolete and are generally overcrowded with many illegal aliens and other criminals in addition to many of the good, decent folks who live in them. The drive-by shootings in the north part of Costa Mesa last year were all in and around the barracks style apartments.

The Daily Pilot reported on a small fire in one of these barracks style apartments in the Fillmore slum the other day. The CM PRESS was there, by the way. How many people were in the two small units? The paper reported fourteen, but some in the crowd said more were living there.

Our city is stagnating as a result of the status quo establishment that West supports.

West is a member of Return to Reason. That's the group that supported Mike Scheafer and Bruce Garlich in the last election. Garlich is the guy who said that there's no pollution on the Westside Bluffs. ( Want the truth? Go check out the seven acre site on Monrovia where the dirt has to be trucked out because of the pollution).

I have the public roster for Return to Reason. It is full of the names of industrial property owners and others from out of town and various charity types and illegal alien advocates.

Do you really think West is interested in helping Latinos? Perish the thought. Wouldn't everyone who lives on the Westside be helped if the area improved? Doesn't a rising tide raise all boats?

West even opposes my idea of bringing a college to the Westside. Wouldn't a college help Latinos as well as others? Why does he oppose any meaningful improvements on the Westside? Hmmm?

West lives on the gentrified Eastside almost in Newport Beach, for one thing. He doesn't live where there are killings and drive by shootings and graffiti and helicopters overhead every night. He doesn't shop on streets full of thrift stores, pawn shops, liquor stores and charities.

And, West doesn't get headaches late at night when some factory or factories on the Westside Bluffs crank up their machines and pump chemicals in the air that are quickly blown over nearby homes. His neighbor kids aren't dying because of strange brain tumors that appear to have a link to some of the chemicals in the air and ground on the Westside.

He doesn't have the aforementioned seven acre piece of land in his neighborhood (as does the Westside) that has to have its toxic soil all trucked away to a hazardous waste facility where it will be incinerated so that it can no longer cause cancer and other diseases in people.

His kids (reportedly he has no children) don't go to schools that are in danger of being taken over by the state and where teachers have to devote many hours to teaching basic English instead of teaching citizen kids what most of us learned in school when we were growing up.

But, West, as with the charity bosses and the out of town industrialists and the illegal alien advocates, doesn't want any change on the Westside. He thinks things are just fine...over on the Westside far from his home.

He doesn't want any upscale things on the Westside. No college. No expensive homes on view bluffs. He only wants barracks style apartments, a Job Center, many charities and 60 acres of polluting industrial buildings on our view bluffs. He wants the Westside to remain as it is. He is against change and improvement.

Folks, there are some who want to make the Westside into a new Huntington Park. I kid you not. That's their plan. That's the actual city they've mentioned as their model. If you don't get what they mean, you should know that Huntington Park is not in Huntington Beach, it is in Los Angeles near South Gate and Compton. If you were dropped in either Tijuana or Huntington Park, they'd both look the same. Your clue that you might actually be in Tijuana would be that you'll hear more English spoken in Tijuana than you will in Huntington Park.

Is that what you want? Or, do you want Costa Mesa to be more like its coastal neighboring cities? Why should Costa Mesa be acting like a landlocked inner city? Aren't we close to the ocean and Newport Beach and Huntington Beach?

If you don't want change, be sure to vote for Return to Reason candidates and be sure to tell the present City Council that you don't want real change and that you're happy with flowers on medians and potholes being fixed and that you don't want to see the structural changes that are needed to make the Westside the great part of town that it should be.

However if you do want real change and real improvement, demand that the City Council do more than plant flowers on the medians and fix potholes. Demand that they bring in the structural changes that will make the Westside the bestside.# # #Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Oh geez. Return to Reason's own Byron deArakal over at the Daily Pilot has a column in today's paper in which he inadvertently gives us the local version of the plot device used by countless science fiction writers in B movies and TV shows when they want to show that we humans have it all over the bug eyed monsters, assorted robots and various androids.

It's because we have, in Byron's words, "compassion and love and humanity."

In such movies and TV shows, including Star Trek, you'll usually see the main human protagonist--think, Captain Kirk--win because of his human qualities.

And, in the movie or TV show, there's usually something like the following that is either explicitly stated or implied (often depending on the age of the target audience).

"Take us to your leader. We want to learn about compassion and love and humanity. We do not understand these things and even though our science is hundreds of thousands of years ahead of yours and even though it has only taken us a short time to travel light years to your planet in machines that you can't even imagine, we do not have compassion and love and humanity on our home world and want to learn from you."

Yup, those bug eyed monsters could travel here to earth from light years away in some cases and thus have, demonstrably, more of a handle on science and technology than we do, but they don't have COMPASSION or LOVE or, or, or HUMANITY, BY DAMN! Just a buncha emotionless Spock wannabes!

Why, they're not even human! And they're ugly! Let's go kill 'em! Let's show them our compassion and our love and our humanity. Let's go squish them like the bugs they look like! We don't need none of them kind around these parts! Pick up your pitchforks and let's go get 'em. We'll teach them to be ugly. We're gonna kick some alien butt, er, which end is their butt?

Of course, Byron isn't discussing space aliens. He's actually referring to some of my essays in which I take a scientific approach to this thing we call life.

Byron figures I take too simplistic a view of humans and he tells us that we humans are above the rest of life, by golly, because, well, in Byron's more complex view of things, we have compassion, love and humanity.

Yup. We're just below the angels. Laws of nature don't apply to us as they do to all other living things, apparently.

In truth, that sounds a little like 14th Century Catholic doctrine. Perhaps, if Byron's views are, indeed, informed by centuries old Catholic doctrine (and I don't know for a fact that they are), he might wish to go back and read what famous Catholic monk Gregor Mendel had to say about some of the same things I write about.

Byron also figures the folks over at the Pilot have a fixation with me.

Let me be very clear that there is no truth to the rumor that the paper is going to change it's name to the DAILY MILLARD.

Anyway, here's part of Byron's latest column. And, here's the LINK to the full column.

(snip)

I’m thinking it’s time, too, for a lot of folks in this city and at the helm of the Daily Pilot to put away their Martin Millard fixation.

Millard is the iconoclastic chap whose numerous essays on genes and race, and the order of nature are used by his detractors to paint the man as the combined reincarnation of Daddy Jim Crow and Hitler.

But that’s too easy and a bit intellectually lazy.

From where I sit, Millard’s essays are overly simplistic and easy to disagree with.

They ignore the unique human qualities that elevate us above the vermin and the insects; things like compassion, love and humanity.

These are the governors who — on most days — bridle us from destroying one another and which temper nature’s otherwise violent and compassionless machinery.

Millard is the most persistent and vocal mouthpiece of Costa Mesa’s Improvement movement.

But he is not the Improvement movement itself. Fixating on what Millard may or may not be doesn’t help the city improve. Or its people get along any better.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Unfortunately, the DAILY PILOT is still allowing posters to smear others anonymously.

I can understand wanting to allow people to post anonymously, but since the PILOT's forums are moderated, posts that smear others should be edited out or the poster should be told to give his full and complete real name with such a post.

My guess is that the day may come when someone is smeared to the point of taking legal action. And, one of the first things that will happen in such legal action is that a subpoena ducestecum will be served demanding the full registration information on the anonymous poster(s) in question.

Here are a few more posts from the Daily Pilot with my responses in blue. I've edited out all the surplusage from the following posts. If you want to read the full posts, here's the LINK to the Daily Pilot.

"SOUNDING OFF:Writer propagates intolerance"

Upton wrote on Mar 10, 2008 10:41 AM:

(snip)

" …There’s a great chasm between an avowed racist and an avowed critic.

(snip)

I RESPOND: Upton, you should define what you mean by "avowed racist." It seems you don't have any idea of what words mean and you just use them to smear. Let me help you."Avowed" means to acknowledge openly , boldly and unashamedly.*And, here's yet another definition of that all purpose smear word "racism"--a word that is used by lefty creeps all the time:

"Racism"isa belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.*

So, putting the two definitions together, we have this: An avowed racist is someone who acknowledges openly, boldly and unashamedly that he has a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.That doesn't describe me. I've never avowed that.

I imagine, Upton, that in an earlier time and in a different place, you'd be trying to smear others by calling them witches. It's too bad that in every age we continue to have your kind of small minded bigotry with us.

Next time you try to smear someone, put your real and full name on posts. Tell everyone who you really are and why you want Costa Mesa to continue to be an illegal alien sanctuary city. Tell everyone how much money you're making off your "compassion."

Now see if you can understand what I actually do avow: DNA and those segments of DNA called genes and the chromosomes that carry them are, as far as science now knows, the primary determinants of all life that we know about and no race is inherently superior to any other race.

Is that clear enough?-----------------------------------------

Upton wrote on Mar 10, 2008 10:36 AM:

(snip)

To equate Millard’s well documented racial obsessions in a country that knows well the evil effects of racism....(snip)I RESPOND: Upton, if I have an obsession it is with looking for the big answers of existence and it should be no surprise that when a human being goes looking for such answers, it will involve human beings.------------------------------------------------

Upton wrote on Mar 7, 2008 9:21 AM:

(snip)

Given his widely publicized racial views (his core values), Millard’s influence should be carefully watched for the sake of minorities in the community. "

I RESPOND: Upton, your ignorance is appalling and you're little more than a one trick pony. My "widely publicized racial views," in simplest terms, are that evolution is a reality and that humans are part of the process but that we aren't necessarily trapped on a conveyor belt of blind evolution as are most other living things that we are aware of. My views also include strong stands against genocide.

-----------------------------

Silverthorn wrote on Mar 6, 2008 7:48 PM:

(snip)

From what I see Millard is an intelligent man with sick views of humanity....(snip)

I RESPOND:Nope. Nothing sick about them. My views are based on science and reasonable speculation based on what we now know. My views are completely in tune with science and are always open to modification and change as science learns more.

Monday, March 10, 2008

At Tuesday's City Council Study Session, the Council will discuss revising our municipal codes to allow homeowners to install synthetic turf. The city is also considering this for parkways and medians. LINK

We at the CM PRESS aren't keen on this idea of artificial grass and we're also not keen on the idea of trying to maintain regular lawn grass in our area.

We've been long time advocates for allowing nature to determine what is right for any clime.

We've always thought it absurd when people have to go to extraordinary lengths to maintain plants--such as grass--in an area where such plants have difficulty flourishing.

No, we're not against grass and there are areas of the country where it does grow naturally without much care or intervention by humans. And, it should remain in those areas.

Here in Costa Mesa, we don't get much rain and grass doesn't do well here, but we think it's a mistake to replace real grass that provides other benefits to the environment with plastic grass that does nothing but try to fool the eye--and it doesn't even do that very well.

Artificial grass upsets the balance of nature and contributes nothing good to the environment the way plants do.

It would be better if the Council revised our plant palate and encouraged the use of native plants which do well here. Take a look at The Camp on Bristol Street for an idea of what native plants look like. To us, they look pretty good.

And, "native" means what grows naturally here now for the natural conditions of our area without much intervention or care by humans.

Don't get us started on Fairview Park, where the City wants to spend lots of money to remove plants that are growing naturally there right now, all on their own with no care, and replace them with so-called "native" plants that are no longer native to this time and place and which will only remain in the park with extensive and expensive care by humans.

First comes artificial grass, then artificial flowers and artificial trees. Maybe we can then bring in some artificial bees, birds and squirrels.

# # #

CITY CONSIDERING TV CONTRACT

Also at Tuesday's Study Session the Council will consider a proposal from CCNusa.tv to install TV screens around the city to broadcast local news and advertising.

Here's the LINK to the Study Session Item. Alternate LINK in case the first one doesn't work.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Mayor Pro Tem Allan Mansoor has a good letter in the OC Register today in which Mansoor corrects the false statements of the Register's Steven Greenhut. LINK

The letter is worth reading for the statistics that Mansoor gives about 600 fewer criminals we now have on the streets of Costa Mesa as a result of having an ICE agent in our jail.

Now, if Mansoor and company will only implement a fail-safe program to cross train some of our regular officers to also interview suspected illegal aliens under the federal 287g program we may get even more dangerous criminals off our streets.

IMPORTANT: Had it not been for Mansoor and Bever and other improvers, these 600 criminals would still be on Costa Mesa's streets--maybe right on your street--maybe thinking your house would be an easy target for a burglary.

Remember this as we get closer and closer to the election this year and don't let squishy improvement obstructionists take back the City Council.# # #Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Normally, I don't bother with improvement obstructionists and I don't answer their emails. It just wastes my time.

Most of them are obstructionists because they're profiting either financially or psychologically from having down scale conditions in Costa Mesa.

They'll never support improvement. That's because while improvement will help the middle class homeowners of this city, it won't help these obstructionists and may kill off their golden goose.

But, just for a change, I've decided to reply to some of these comments and personal attacks that have been posted on the Daily Pilot Website. As we say on the streets, docendodiscimus.Since I don't post on the Pilot Website, I've captured all the comments up to Mar 4, 2008 9:43 PM: and put them here. You can find my responses in blue immediately following each comment.

"SOUNDING OFF:

Millard: Let’s set the record straight"

Kerryman wrote on Mar 4, 2008 9:43 PM:

" I've read several of Millard's crack-brained submissions to the Daily Pilot. On those occasions, he always seems puzzled. "Me?," he writes. "A racist? Perish the thought." But Millard is indeed a racist. Check out his pieces on the neo-Nazi Web site "New Nation News," where he rails against "race mixing" and the "pollution" of the white race by Hispanics and African Americans. Millard is the 800-pound Julius Streicher in the living room of Costa Mesa's civic discourse. No one should listen to him or give his preposterous rantings any credence whatsoever. "

I RESPOND: Kerryman, given your cliched and tired conclusions in your post, it's pretty clear you don't understand what you read, and it's also clear you don't even understand the basic conventions we have in the language. You see, you put quotation marks around a number of expressions as though they are direct quotes from me and they're not.

If you don't like what I write, and can't understand it, just don't read it. Comprende? Also, the next time you call someone names, why don't you put your real name with your post?

Of course, your knee jerk and lefty use of the term "racist," gives me another opportunity to delve into the misuse of our language. In common usage, "racist" has come to mean one who hates others because of race and often wants to destroy them. That's not me. Never has been. My guess, from your comments, is that it describes you.

I've been a long time advocate for the continuation of races and for the end of genocide. In fact, that's what many of my essays have been about.

Specifically, I've written a number of essays supporting Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, Native Hawaiians (another column is coming soon on the Hawaiians), and others who are trying, not only to overcome the insidious genocide that has been forced on them, but to reverse it. Some of those who want the genocide to continue seem to have ignorant attitudes such as yours.

And, in a larger sense, what I have written about ending genocide has to do with the bigger questions of existence starting at the subatomic level where matter comes into being from non-being and proceeds on a path that among other things can be seen in evolution, DNA, genes, chromosomes, genotypes, phenotypes and much more.

Much of this will be in my next book.

And as far as my essays appearing on this or that website or publication;I repeat again: I write to be read and I'm appreciative of any webmaster or editor who runs my stuff. I don't agree with everything on every website or in every publication where my essays appear. Why, I'd even let some of my stuff appear in the Daily Pilot.

Tommie Griffon wrote on Mar 4, 2008 9:10 PM:

" Rob Dickson...my sentiments exactly!! "

I RESPOND: See below.

Rob Dickson wrote on Mar 4, 2008 10:08 AM:

" Mr. Millard, if you really want to set the record straight, stop claiming that you want to improve Costa Mesa. You want no such thing, as you've repeatedly advocated for a merger of Costa Mesa INTO Newport Beach. I respect honest advocacy and people who stand up for what they believe in, and but your repeated calls for wiping the municipal entity that is Costa Mesa off the map, while claiming that all you want is improvement for Costa Mesa, is completely disingenuous. So set the record straight, Mr. Millard, do you want Costa Mesa to improve or disappear? "

I RESPOND: Dickson, I want to see the geographic area that we call Costa Mesa improved. The name "Costa Mesa" and the corporate/civic entity that it represents isn't worth anything if it doesn't benefit us and our families.

And, if it doesn't benefit us, then we shouldn't be wedded to the concept of having it as a separate city. If we can improve the quality of life for the citizens who live in this geographic area by merging with Newport Beach, that's a good move for our citizens.

Unfortunately, I'm pretty much a voice in the wilderness on this, so you needn't worry that the slums, the industrial buildings on our view bluffs, the pollution, the gangs, the low school scores and other negatives will soon go away.

Enjoy your misplaced jingoism, but be sure to lock the doors on your home which has less value than it should have and stay out of certain neighborhoods at night and don't breathe the air downwind of the industrialized bluffs and if you have kids, you may want to put them in Newport Beach schools.

" I read your "cockroach" analogy when referring to latinos.Secondly, you indicate that your comments are directed at people with average to above average IQ. And those with less of an IQ? Maybe we don't want to know the answer.Lastly, and perhaps most ironical, you apparently belong to "mensa." I know what mensa's definition is in spanish...! "

I RESPOND: Ah, CMMV Resident, I've read other posts from you and they're as off base as this one. No wonder you don't want to use your real name. I'm not sure exactly what you're referring to about "cockroaches," but it may be about something in one of my columns where I mentioned that famous Mexican writer Elena Poniatowskimetaphorically compared Mexicans to cockroaches for the praiseworthy characteristics of the latter.

You see CMMV Resident, one of the reasons I say I write for people with average or above average I.Q.'s is because not everyone is going to understand what I write.

But even beyond the reference to Poniatowski; Ihave alsopraised cockroaches in many of my columns, and maybe that's what you've seen. I've written that the cockroach is a more apt symbol of a fully alive and expanding people than the Bald Eagle, which is almost extinct because it hasn't been able to adapt to changing circumstances and its reproduction level is too low. The cockroach, on the other hand, has been around since the days of the dinosaurs and will probably be here when we're all gone.

This talk of cockroaches also deals with the survival of the fittest and adaptation and evolution and the nature of existence...never mind. I discuss this a little further on. Next time, use your real name instead of hiding behind a phony screen name.

Oh, and "Mensa," as used by the organization of that name, isn't from Spanish, but from Latin. It means "table." Not the same meaning at all as mensa in Spanish.

" Gosh, I'm still not convinced MHM. I was always taught that if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, has it's name posted on a naional duck group watch list and has it's writings praised by duck supremacy organizations, it's a duck. Maybe it's time to get the duck out of here and find a less tainted gene pool to swim in. When the housing market recovers, of course.

Bill ThomsonCosta Mesa "

I RESPOND: Gosh, gonzo 1946, is this supposed to be clever? Good grief! It sounds like you quacked up. See how easy it is to play with words? You know, gonzo1946 or BMT, I'm about the politest person you'll ever meet--when people are polite to me-- but I respond in kind. Send dumbass comments my way and you'll get them back in spades.

" He closed his commentary by saying, "I will continue working as hard as I can to help improve Costa Mesa. Count on it." I'm sure he will. And you can count on me to set my picture books aside and observe and report on his attempts at "improvement", too, whether he likes it or not."

I RESPOND: If the soul of wit is brevity, West comes up short thrice. No one on the DP blog uses more words to say less than this guy West.

" And, of course, he denigrates me as a lesser being, barely able to understand the written word, much less his profound pronouncements. He may be correct - I'm just a simple guy, without Millard's prodigious intellect - the existence of which I have acknowledged many times. I do know right from wrong. I do know intolerance when I see it. I've got enough gray matter to understand the common thread of his actions in our city is the extraction of the Latinos from our midst. I'm grateful to him for proving my points. (Cont.)"

I RESPOND: Blah, blah, blah. I don't denigrate him. I feel sorry for him. He has no original thoughts and he seems to wear an inferiority complex on his sleeve.

West has never come up with one idea to help improve Costa Mesa that I'm aware of. He even lives under the flight path of the ever expanding JWA and he's apparently not savvy enough to go to City Council meetings when the issue is being discussed.

Instead of spending all his time making personal attacks, he should use his declining years in working to help improve our city and get over his obsession with thinking that Latinos are being discomforted or chased out of the city.

" His ego is fully on display as he, with no trace of humility, compares himself to Galileo and other great thinkers of the past. I hope you all appreciate just how lucky you are that he has chosen to address us mere mortals from his place on high. Give me a break!

He uses this opportunity to hawk his books, wave his alleged Mensa membership like a battle flag and advertise his blog. I've never said he wasn't smart. (Cont.) "

I RESPOND: In my original column I wrote that someone would misunderstand the reference to Galileo. West was quick to step up and prove my point.

West apparently doesn't understand that the essential element of the comparison I made isn't that I'm like Galileo because of achievements or intellect, but that Galileo presents a commonly known example of someone who went against the current orthodoxy or zeitgeist.

In other words, I set up an analogy in my use of Galileo's name in which a reader had to use his or her reasoning ability to fill in the correct missing part. West failed the test.

Here's another example of such an analogy in simple terms so it's clear. Cat: Meowing: Dog: ___. No, the correct answer is not "fur" or "small animal," or "poops in your yard," it is "barking." Thus: Cat is to meowing as dog is to barking.

In Galileo's day, the then current orthodoxy held that the earth was the center of the solar system. No one could question that. Galileo said that was wrong and did question it. In our day, the equivalent current orthodoxy often deals with genes and things of genes--including race. And, no one is supposed to question our current orthodoxy. I don't play. I do question. I'm all for letting the mind explore science and then letting the chips fall where they may.

Even many people with picture books have heard of Galileo so it seemed to be a good and obvious way to illustrate a point. Even West had a passing acquaintance with the name Galileo.

I could have used more obscure references to make my point, but then I would have had to write many more paragraphs trying to explain the references and the pre-references and the pre-pre-references which are not in West's picture books.

And, if West couldn't even get the Galileo reference right, imagine the difficulty he would have had with some lesser known figures.

What about that nonsense West wrote about me waving the flag of Mensa? Actually, I wasn't waving it. West told readers where they could find some of my stuff and I just wanted to let them know they could also find it in some Mensa publications. It was a single word--Mensa--in a very long column. But, the fact that West focuses so much attention on that one word would probably say volumes about his psychological state to a shrink giving him a word association test.

If I were waving (read:bragging) I might have said that I'm also a member of another group that is commonly known as super Mensa (not affiliated with Mensa and it requires a higher I.Q. than Mensa) and that I was on my college's GE College Bowl Team (a quiz kid TV show) and that I agree with my fellow Mensan Stephen Hawking on...but, I didn't say all these things, did I? Oops. Again, my purpose was simply to give another place where some of my stuff could be read.

Nope, I wasn't bragging at all and I've never claimed that I'm smart. I just said you could find some of my stuff in Mensa publications. There was no way of telling you where you could find them without using the word Mensa.

And, the reason I didn't wave is because I'm not convinced that we really understand the concept "intelligence" or what constitutes intelligence and what doesn't. And, I'm not impressed with those who claim high intelligence. I never make such a claim for myself except in jest or to stick it to those with chips on their shoulders.

The truth is that I'm not sure that everyone--including me--who scores high on the present tests is really very smart at all. At any rate, I don't self-identify based on such concepts and I was surprised to see the appellation "Mensa Marty," that West apparently has now picked up from Waving Tom Johnson over at the Pilot, when Johnson first used it more than a year ago.

Since West seems obsessed with intelligence, and since others seem to have an interest in this area, and since it seems West has a difficult time understanding what he reads and apparently has a problem in being able to reason from correct premises to a logical conclusion, I want to be very clear about the fact that I'm not at all impressed with intelligence tests and I'd never wave the results of such things or name drop except tongue in cheek or in responding to jerks. If anything, I'm a debunker and skeptic of such tests.

Frankly, and to put more of a point on this, because, again, West seems to have a hard time understanding things unless they're repeated in many different ways--as evidenced by the way he takes things I write out of context and then gives them false meanings--I'm not really sure that intelligence tests are really testing big "I" Intelligence or if there really is such a thing.

I'm more and more convinced, as are many researchers now, that there is not really one type of intelligence (the aforementioned big "I" intelligence), but many, and that many very intelligent people are not showing up as intelligent on the standard tests and many people who may not be so intelligent (perhaps like me) are. It may be that we'll have to retire the concept "Intelligence," and find something more suitable.

A few years ago I contacted a famous research psychologist and professor at a major university who had, it was claimed in a newspaper article, come up with a way of testing intelligence that didn't rely on pencil and paper or other methods commonly used for such tests.

What intrigued me about this was that the newspaper article made it sound as though the test wouldn't involve any motor skills at all but that there would be some sort of autonomic nervous system response to a light flashed in the eyes of a subject--perhaps, I imagined, the researcher had discovered a correlation between the speed of the iris closing and intelligence.

The guy was happy to discuss his ideas with me because he wanted a large number of people from high I.Q. societies to take part as one of his test groups, and I let him know that I could probably put him in contact with many such people. In fact, Mensa was founded partly to encourage a study of the nature of intelligence.

However, after I reviewed his work and studied the plans for his device, I quickly realized that the test subject would have to respond consciously and physically to the stimulus and that his device was really just a simple stimulus-response machine. To me, that wasn't much better than the present systems in use, so I didn't pursue the matter further.

" He says he writes not "in the dry language of the academy but in ways that I hope will be interesting to some readers". I'm sure he's accomplished that goal as he decries the "blending" of the American identity, causing, in his words, the evolution of "Tan Everyman" and goes on to encourage us to breed only within our own race - as often as possible. (Cont.)

I RESPOND: Yup. That's how we living things survive. We breed. Those who don't, don't survive.

"Survival of the fittest" as used by Darwin and others is often misunderstood to mean that the best and the brightest survive. Actually, that's a misinterpretation.

Survival of the fittest is a concept that must be defined backwards. Those who survive, for whatever reason, are, by definition, the fittest. And, chance plays a big part in this.

Thus, all humans now alive--even West--are the fittest of our species simply because we are alive. That is, we--with all our genes that make us who we are--survived to be here while many millions did not survive. They were unfit; by definition.

If we who are now alive--we fittest--do not have children who survive our deaths, "we" will be missing from the next and all future generations and this means, at that time, we will not be the fittest. We will have become extinct.

You do understand, of course, and notwithstanding what you may have gathered from what I wrote two paragraphs above, that we are speaking here of individual genes as well as genotypes and their manifestation as phenotypes and not so much about particular individuals. And, you do understand, don't you, that this isn't opinion but scientific fact and should be self-evident?

" Like some pathetic William F. Buckley, Jr. wannabe, he arrogantly proclaims that he "writes to be read", and that his target audience is "free-thinking adults with average or above-average I.Q.'s". He doesn’t mention that he’s embraced and praised by that "paragon of tolerance", David Duke - the former head of the Ku Klux Klan, who features Millard's essays on his web site, which Millard uses as a marketing tool to sell his books. He says he writes for those of high intellect when, in fact, his internet essays appeal to the knuckle-dragging extremists on the far right. (Cont.) "

I RESPOND: "William F. Buckley, Jr.?" Thanks. Actually, when I was acting in New York, I was one of the first five or so members of a very early libertarian group called The Society for Individual Liberty which embraced some of Buckley's ideas. Buckley once responded with positive comments to something I had written in, ah, characteristic, er, Buckley, ah, fashion, which is to say, ah, he agreed with, er, what I had, ah, written.

" His actions on the 3R committee are a matter of public record. There is no doubt about his role in reducing the funding for Westside charities, the disdain for which he readily admits in his piece. Which group would suffer the most from reduced funding of the charities? Yep, those hard-working folks with brown skin living on the Westside. (Cont.)

I RESPOND: Those who would be hardest hit are West's charity boss pals who are pulling down big salaries with their charity businesses that serve illegal aliens and draw them to Costa Mesa. What a great business! People think you're a new Mother Teresa while you make big bucks. And, all you have to do is keep bringing more illegal aliens to Costa Mesa to use your services.

When the charity bosses are at City Hall asking for more of our tax money, the parking lot looks like a Lexus or Mercedes dealership. We're not talking about sackcloth and ashes, folks.

Let me be perfectly clear about this. Non-profits that truly are set up to help those in Costa Mesa who have temporarily fallen on hard times are to be encouraged, but those that exist to make those in charge rich and which become a way of life for some clients and which are drawing people here because of the charities, are harming our city.

" He denies any "connection" between himself and Allan Mansoor, and yet those of us who take the time to watch the council proceedings recognize that Mansoor and the other members of the council majority frequently echo his words with uncanny precision - as virtual "Charlie McCarthy's" to his "Edgar Bergen". Coincidence? Hardly! (Cont.) "

I RESPOND: It's because of the brain waves I transmit into their heads. West hasn't convinced them to wear tin foil hats yet.

If I were to order a hamburger at Burger King and Mansoor did the same thing a week later, West would say Mansoor did it because of me. Since Mansoor can't run for the Council this year, watch as West switches to saying that some others are marching to my tune. West is so transparently predictable.

One of the first things one learns in Logic 101 is to avoid false cause fallacies. This is one type of fallacy (but not the only one) that West engages in all the time.

If a rooster crows as the sun comes up, and if West follows the type of "reasoning" he uses in his attempts to link Mansoor and me, he'd tell you that the rooster caused the sun to rise. Most of us know better.

I think it's great that West is part of Return to Reason and donates some of his retirement money to their candidates. Hopefully, he'll donate even more of his money to losing candidates this year than the public records show he donated last time. He's a great poster boy for Return to Reason.

" As you read through his little essay you will note that the common thread is, indeed, the discomfort and displacement of the Latinos among us. He calls for a "college on the Westside". Where might that citadel of higher learning be located? Why, on land confiscated by eminent domain - which he has recently advocated - that presently houses members of the Latino laboring class in our city. (Cont.) "

I RESPOND: West doesn't want a college on the Westside. He just wants a job center and charities and industrial buildings in that part of town. Those Latinos don't need no stinkin' college. Is that what West is saying?

West prefers living way over on the Eastside almost in Newport Beach. How about a job center in West's neighorhood? I'll even help him circulate a petition among his neighbors requesting that one be put there.

" What a surprise! The writer, known by some around these parts as "Mensa Marty", is unhappy with my characterization of him and his influence in our city. I'd like to thank him for going out of his way to provide us with his little epistle, much of which proves my point. (Cont.) "

I RESPOND: West should go back to his picture books. Jack and Jill are still on that hill. Oh, the drama and the suspense!

I CONCLUDE:

Well, kids, it's been swell swapping insults with you, but I've got other things to do now.

If readers of the CM PRESS want more, I may do this again. Otherwise, I won't waste my time. Personal attacks do nothing to help improve our city and I'd rather focus my efforts on bringing attention to things that need to be fixed instead of calling people names and trying to constantly explain simple things.

Remember, if you want to get beyond all the negativity and help make where you live a great and safe place, keep reading my blog. You'll find statistics there that cut through all the BS and which tell how we're doing as a city compared to the five cities that surround us.

Armed with those statistics and with some critical thinking and an ability to see patterns, no one will be able to pull the wool over your eyes with double talk or name calling.

The facts are the facts, folks. That's why people such as West don't use them. They don't have the facts on their side and just resort to name calling.

We live in a cause and effect universe. Things happen for a reason. Costa Mesa is the way it is for reasons that are revealed in the statistics. Want a quick summary without the numbers?

Costa Mesa has too many slum apartments.Costa Mesa has too many renters vs. homeowners.Costa Mesa has too many industrial buildings on our view bluffs.Costa Mesa has too many charities acting as magnets for illegal aliens.

How do we know we have "too many" causes for the effects we see? Once again, we compare Costa Mesa with the quality of life statistics of our five surrounding cities. Newport Beach is generally at the top of the heap in quality of life and Santa Ana is at the bottom. Costa Mesa's statistics, unfortunately, are more like Santa Ana's than our "sister city" Newport Beach.

In other words, we have many of the same "causes" as Santa Ana and as a result we have many of the same "effects."

Of course, if you don't believe me, then tell us why you think Costa Mesa is closer to Santa Ana in quality of life than it is to Newport Beach.

Say, did I mention that you can find some of my stuff in Mensa publications?# # #Those are our opinions. Thanks for reading them....